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Multiple-Meaning Words

A multiple-meaning word is spelled and said the same way but means different things: a bat flies at night, and you hit a ball with a bat. Context is the only clue, which is why these words are such good reading practice.

Here are 116 multiple-meaning words from past ClueBy puzzles, each with a real example sentence for every meaning. Use them as a reference, or make a printable worksheet below.

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Students read each sentence and write the missing word. Every word appears in several sentences, each time with a different meaning.

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Multiple-Meaning Words

Name: ____________________Date: __________

Write the missing word in each sentence. Each word is used more than once, with a different meaning each time.

  1. We've had a long dry ________________ this summer.
  2. This looks like a gunshot ________________.
  3. I cannot shed a ________________ for that horrible man.
  4. ________________ is common in the lakes of Sweden.
  5. I like to ________________ a cookie in coffee.
  6. He asked the witch to reverse the ________________.
  7. Many English words ________________ from Latin.
  8. The big green plant was starting to droop at the ________________.
  9. It's not a deep ________________. It's just a scratch.
  10. How do you ________________ your surname?
  11. Drying a ________________ is more honorable than shedding torrents of blood.
  12. We ________________ up on opposing sides.
  13. The ________________ was so hot, it burned my tongue.
  14. The owl hooted softly from its ________________.
  15. Scientists study ________________ cells to repair damaged tissue.
  16. The birds use the scarecrow as a ________________.
  17. They watched the sun ________________ below the horizon.
  18. It is only in accepting others that we can ________________ down our own barriers.

Sentences from ClueBy, Tatoeba (CC BY 2.0 FR) and Common Voice (CC0). clueby.com

Answer key

  1. spell — a short time
  2. wound — an injury
  3. tear — from crying
  4. perch — the fish
  5. dip — to dunk
  6. spell — magic
  7. stem — to come from
  8. stem — of a plant
  9. wound — an injury
  10. spell — letters
  11. tear — from crying
  12. wound — past of 'wind'
  13. dip — a sauce
  14. perch — for a bird
  15. stem — a stem cell
  16. perch — for a bird
  17. dip — to sink
  18. tear — to rip

Multiple-meaning words list

Tick up to 10 words to build a worksheet with just those words.

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Frequently asked questions

What are multiple-meaning words?

Words with the same spelling and pronunciation but more than one meaning, like bark (of a dog or of a tree) or bank (for money or of a river). You can only tell which meaning is meant from the rest of the sentence.

Are multiple-meaning words the same as homonyms?

Mostly, yes. Teachers often use "multiple-meaning words" and "homonyms" for the same idea. Homophones are different: they sound alike but are spelled differently, like flour and flower.

Are the worksheets free?

Yes. Make and print as many as you like for home or classroom use. Each sheet has its own link, so you can print the same one again.

Where do the words come from?

From past ClueBy puzzles, a daily game where you sort twelve sentences by their missing word. A new puzzle every day adds four more words to this list.

Sentences from ClueBy, Tatoeba (CC BY 2.0 FR) and Common Voice (CC0). clueby.com